Hunnebergs Outdoorsmässan

At an outdoors fair at Hunneberg I represented Crossing Latitudes and talked about NOLS/WMI and the courses they have. Two nice but very cold days in the big Tentipi tent. But I think it was rather successful and a lot of interested people came by and talked with me.

This was how it looked most of the time

Worming my hands on some coffee while talking to an interested visitor.

The tents

Filip, a scouting friend is signing for the news letter.

Two strange visitors. (The one to the right is my daughter Paula)

A cold night

January 6, the previous night was about -15°C cold (5°F) and I decided to test my new sleeping bag from Robert's Outdoor Equipment. I packed my backpack for the trip and took with me all I needed for a night out in cold winter conditions. Sleeping bag, silk liner, a tarp, sleeping pad (Exped Downmat), a bivvy bag, my Hilleberg tarp, coffee pot, my camera and GoPro and some smaller stuff.
The backpack was a bit on the heavy side but I needed some extras as I was not sure about the place I was going to sleep.

I took the car to Kroppefjäll, a nature reservation as far away from any houses as it's possible in this area of Sweden. Specially known for having wolfs there (more about that later). There is a nice parking place where I started the hike and it was about 10 cm of snow (4 inches) and partly hard to see the trail. It is not as well marked as it should be or you are not supposed to use it in the winter?!

I had planed to walk the 6 km in two hours but the snow and generally hard terrain made it almost four hours. It was dark when I arrived at the shelter at the small peninsula at the small forest lake. And then very cold! I had also gotten a bit wet from sweat and snow so I was freezing a bit. To have a fire was my first priority and finding dry wood in the snow and darkness was rather hard but after 40 minutes I had a nice fire burning. The kettle on the fire and some chorizo for barbecue. Very nice!

Warmer and a bit tired I fixed my bed for the night but still a bit wet it took an hour before I was warm in my sleeping bag. Very cold out and my guess was that it was about -15°C.

I did sleep on and off during the night (12 hours in the sleeping bag as the daylight did't start until 8 am.) but after the first hour I was not cold anymore, actually I had to open the sleeping bag a couple of times to cool off! And some time during the night it was slowly getting warmer so in the morning I think it was about -8° C.
It was easier to find wood for the fire in daylight and I soon had my breakfast, packed my backpack and on the way again. I decided to walk the same way back as the day before. Easier to find the trail, just follow my tracks, and that part of the trail has a more varied landscape.

After about 2 km I saw some tracks on the trail. The tracks were made shortly after I had walked there the day before. Very big and no other footprints from humans. Lynx or wolf? Both are living in the area. It had followed my tracks for about 1,5 km (1 mile). I think it was a wolf, a young one, that had been following me. Pity I didn't see it.

After three hours I'm back at my car, warm and tired and very satisfied with being out a couple of days and had the chance to really test my new sleeping bag.

My gear

Outside temp as I was leaving the car

Afternoon sun in the cold day

The lake Stora Amboln

The small lake I was staying at

The rough shelter. No floor inside.

Morning tea on the way

Har to find the trail

Lake Stora Amboln day two

Wolf track?

Six friends on a cold lake Vänern

November 24 was a beautiful monday and we were six friends that were out kayaking this cold day. We started at the parking lot at Yttre Bodane in Dalsland and took a five hours trip on the Lake Vänern. Besides me it was Fredrik, Christer, Björn, Hasse and Göran.
The thermometer showed -6°C and it was a nice frost. Fredrik was already in place as he had stayed the night in his tent at the parking lot.
We took our kayaks out to the wooden jetty and put them in the water. All dressed up warm in our drysuits, gloves and hats. But the sun didn't manage to warm us any but paddling against the wind was a bit hard so it got us all pretty warm.
Soon it was coffee time but we didn't sit very long on the cold stones. We had a nice pace among the many islands and tried some passages that were covered in ice, but it was to thick to brake in places. 2-3 centimeters thick, maybe.
On the north end of Rotön we stopped for lunch but the sun was on the way down all to soon so we kept that stop a bit short as well. A very nice paddling towards the sunset on the way back and the wind was decreasing to almost calm weather.

I have had many posts from Yttre Bodane, my favorite place, and this was one of the more memorable trips. A really great day with good friends.

I will later update the post with a video, one that is a bit longer than the ones I usually make Updated now!. And even on this cold day I did my roll. To see it, watch the video!

Morning at the parking lot at Yttre Bodane. Christer is walking past Fredrik's tent

One of many foot-bridges at Yttre Bodane

The small jetty, special built for kayaks and canoes.

Björn, Christer & Fredrik

Hasse

Coffee break. An important part of the trip

Some passages were not possible to pass due to ice. This one was OK.

Low water level as shown on this beautiful rock. See the icicles?

Hasse (in the back) and Göran (in front)

Rotösund

Sun is going down and we are heading back home. 

A cold blue day

Today it was only a short trip on the Lake Vänern for three hours. I waited until about 11 AM for the temperature to rise a bit. The air temperature was about -1°C and in the water 5°C.

A few boats are still in the water at Sunnanå marina but most of them are out of the water now. I saw one guy with his boat out fishing, a tough dude :) But the real tough ones are out kayaking!
And my customary roll was done at the end of the trip. It's getting cold to do that now.

The photos show what nice blue colors it was today and don't miss the movie at the end of the post.

The restaurant at Sunnanå. Closed for the season

The crane for lifting up the boats before winter

A boat on the way to be lifted and the old store house. Very blue everything today.

Ice

View of the Lake Vänern

My beautiful Anas Acuta